Elven Woods: Beaded Kit

A new beautiful beaded shawl from Susan Pandorf -- this is one that really sings to me.

We brought in the exact same yarn and the exact same beads that Susan used in her original.

So here, without further ado, let me itroduce her lovely Elven Woods!

The Design

Susan writes:

“The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinuviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.
There Beren came from mountains cold,
And lost he wandered under leaves,
And where the Elven-river rolled.
He walked along and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock-leaves
And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
And her hair like shadow following.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Elven cloaks were given to all nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring, woven for them by Galadriel herself and her maidens. Each cloak had a hood, was fitted to its wearer, and was fastened by a green Elven brooch. Their color was hard to define – grey in twilight but green when moved or brown as fields or dusk-silver in the night. While they could not deflect a shaft or blade they acted as camouflage against unfriendly eyes.

As the Fellowship prepared to depart Lórien, the Galadhrim brought the cloaks to the travelers. Pippin asked if they were “magic cloaks”. The term confused the Elves, but they explained their properties, which seemed magical enough – they would hide the wearers, they were light, and warm or cool as needed.

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This shawl uses Faroese shaping. There is a center back panel and two identical side panels. The traditional shoulder shaping ensures it will hug your shoulders nicely. The side panels swoop down in front into dramatic (and very flattering) points. The shawl is a very generous size, as I wanted it to feel more like the Elven cloaks than a traditional shawl.

The Yarn and Colorways

The yarn is from Madeline Tosh, Tosh Merino Light of 100% merino and with 420 yards (384m) per skein.

The original colorway, what Susan used in her original shawl is called Joshua Tree. This is a tonal almost-solid, of varying depths of olive, some lighter tones approaching chartreuse that are like sunlight coming through the leaves and some darker ones reminiscnet shadows in the forest. (This can be pre-ordered through to this Wednesday.)

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The shawl as written and as seen on this page used 1600 yards (1463 m). So four skeins will make up your kit.

To go with Joshua Tree, Susan used Miyuki's #2035, which she called "opaque matte olive rose" but which we have long known as "matte metallic khaki iris" (apparently the names of the beads are not standardized though the numbers are -- be assured they are the same beads).

Your kit will include that many.

Note that these are expensive beads and in order to keep the price of this kit just a bit more reasonable, we will be shipping them in a bag holding the full 250g instead of parcelling them out into individual containers. (This will reduce our "plastic footprint" as well.)

If you would prefer a different color bead, just let me know and we'll work it out.

The Pattern

We have not figured the pattern into the cost of the kit as there are so many different ways one might want to get it.

Please make sure the drop-down menu is set as you would like it before checking out.

1. If you would like me to print the pattern for you, that option is available. It would be printed on heavy weight paper, 17 pages.

2. Alternatively, I can email the pattern directly to you. Bear in mind this is not automatic. I need to manually send it and usually do this right before shipping your kit.

3. You can get the pattern directly from Susan on her Ravelry page here. This will save it for you in your Ravelry library as well as ensuring you will immediately get any updates. If you plan to get your pattern via Ravelry instead of directly through us, set the drop-down menu to "No Pattern Needed."